One of the most enduring and philosophically successful ways of considering Russia's musical past online has been through irony. Whether we're talking about the 8bit and chiptune reworking of old computer games or the tongue-in-cheek management of Soviet samples, humor frequently holds sway over anything terribly serious. One example of witty self-deprecation over self-assertion comes from the semi-anonymous glwzbll, stubbornly preferring a lower-case stage-name to overt confidence.

Previous recordings - using the spectacular moniker of "Dude Calm Down" (or DC↓) – are now folded into the glwzbll catalog, illustrated of late with images of a classic, yet dilapidated US automobile and a drowning man. A second figure on the shoreline indifferently offers him a fishing rod, as a final (and impractical) straw before he vanishes beneath the waves forever.

The present day is on a similar downward trajectory; tomorrow will look and sound even cheaper than today. Tape music and glitch become the dual soundtrack to failing machinery and faltering confidence. Both civic and lyrical confidence are doubted. As one Russian publication has it: "This music makes you want to die."